Your experience as a pledge can vary wildly from chapter to chapter and school to school. For example, at Purdue, ZBT more or less initiates their pledges right after rush ends. On the other hand, Beta viciously hazes the **** out of their pledges for months on end. My experience was somewhere in between. It really doesn't represent the standing of a house or the experience you'll have once initiated.

There are a few things to consider when you make this decision.

What are your limits?
What do you want out of your time in college?
Of the things you want, what will you not be able to attain without going greek?
Are your friends pledging?
What is your school's social atmosphere like? Is the focus on apartment parties or fraternal festivities?

Honestly it's hard to give you a straight answer. Personally, I didn't even plan on going greek as a freshman. My friends talked me into going to rush with them and I changed my mind right away. If you join the right house, odds are that it will open new doors for you, introduce you to more people, and help you grow as an individual. Ultimately the decision is yours to make. My advice to you is to rush as many houses as you can, pick one to pledge, and see what happens. The worst case scenario is you drop.

Yes definitely school specific. I'm a Beta lol (although there is more than 1 organization with that shortened moniker) and I wasn't hazed at all really. In retrospect, I met some of my closest friends in my fraternity. If course you will do the same NOT being a fraternity, however, I doubt I would have met a lot of these people any other way. For instance the vast majority of my other good college friends all shared my major. It's really a personal decision, NOT necessary to have an amazing college experience by any means.

Your experience as a pledge can vary wildly from chapter to chapter and school to school. For example, at Purdue, ZBT more or less initiates their pledges right after rush ends. On the other hand, Beta viciously hazes the **** out of their pledges for months on end. My experience was somewhere in between. It really doesn't represent the standing of a house or the experience you'll have once initiated.

There are a few things to consider when you make this decision.

What are your limits?
What do you want out of your time in college?
Of the things you want, what will you not be able to attain without going greek?
Are your friends pledging?
What is your school's social atmosphere like? Is the focus on apartment parties or fraternal festivities?

Honestly it's hard to give you a straight answer. Personally, I didn't even plan on going greek as a freshman. My friends talked me into going to rush with them and I changed my mind right away. If you join the right house, odds are that it will open new doors for you, introduce you to more people, and help you grow as an individual. Ultimately the decision is yours to make. My advice to you is to rush as many houses as you can, pick one to pledge, and see what happens. The worst case scenario is you drop.

Great answer, couldn't have said it any better. Every house has its own personality and don't get swayed because X fraternity is supposed to be "top house" and Y fraternity isn't.

yea that is a great response eforce, pretty much covers a bunch of my questions. seems like im in a similar stance where you are. I had no interest in greek life at first but now im starting to change my mind.

Greek Life is something only offered to those upstanding gentlemen who enter college and are selected by Greek Houses to join (bidding).

If you make the cut, you should join it since it's the only time in your life you'll get to experience it. Just scope out the chapters beforehand to get an idea of what their reputation is on campus, and make sure it's what you want your reputation to be on campus. Stereotypes exist for a reason, so don't accept a bid to a house you don't feel comfortable about.

Other than that, it was easily one of the best decisions I made as an undergrad; great times and memories.

yea that is a great response eforce, pretty much covers a bunch of my questions. seems like im in a similar stance where you are. I had no interest in greek life at first but now im starting to change my mind.

Just try to keep an open mind toward it. If you make it through rush/pledgeship you'll have quite a few crazy stories and great memories by the time you graduate. If you decide to go through with it, let me offer you two pieces of advice that will benefit you greatly.

1. Hang out with as many bros/pledges as you can. Don't just make a circle of 3-4 real friends and stay friendly with everyone else. You'd be surprised what spending 5 minutes in every room can do.
2. Never talk **** about anyone, no matter how right you are. After an incident is resolved, you'll still be remembered as the **** that bad mouthed his brothers.

lol frats. I guess if you can afford to spend a **** load of money for something unnecessary, then go ahead. You can make friends and do networking without being in a frat.

The average cost of living in a fraternity house at Purdue, which has one of the biggest greek systems in the country, is within a few hundred bucks of the dorms. Given what you're saying, I doubt you have much, if any experience in greek life.

The average cost of living in a fraternity house at Purdue, which has one of the biggest greek systems in the country, is within a few hundred bucks of the dorms. Given what you're saying, I doubt you have much, if any experience in greek life.

I guess your right, I never tried rushing/pledging, whatever you guys call it. I wasn't talking about room & board btw, to the best of my knowledge don't you have to pay annual fees to be in a frat? I know a few sorority girls and they told me they have to pay an annual fee, so I just assumed frats do to. Maybe I'm just ignorant on the topic, but I still don't really see the point of being in a frat.

If you don't know anything about it, why are you making comments like the one above? That's no different than someone that's never played paintball telling another newbie that they shouldn't play because it's expensive and it's just a bunch of ex-cons dicking around in the woods.

While it's common for the international parent organizations to charge an annual fee (typically under $100/year), that fee is often built into your room and board or subsidized by alumni. The only other fee we pay is social, which covers parties and house trips such as paintball or canoeing. In any event, you're well within $1000 of the dorm fees per year unless you pledge a 'rich' house. You'd know the cost of living before you pledge anyway.

Frats are generally loathed by most everyone. Youll be "those guys" faster than you can snap your fingers. Lets all dress the same, act the same, get stupid drunk at bars and wind up bleeding on the steet. Its paying for bros. I mean friends.

I sincerely hope you realize that being 'fratty' is nothing more than a running joke among fraternities. All jokes aside, do you really have a problem with polos and sperries?

I've heard that lame stereotype from quite a few people, and very few stand behind it once they've experienced greek life. In any event, one could easily argue that many college students, both greek and non-greek, get stupid drunk at the bars every weekend and make bad choices. Saying only fraternity men do it is silly. That's no less ignorant than people that say every guy from Texas is an inbred redneck.

I sincerely hope you realize that being 'fratty' is nothing more than a running joke among fraternities. All jokes aside, do you really have a problem with polos and sperries?

I've heard that lame stereotype from quite a few people, and very few stand behind it once they've experienced greek life. In any event, one could easily argue that many college students, both greek and non-greek, get stupid drunk at the bars every weekend and make bad choices. Saying only fraternity men do it is silly. That's no less ignorant than people that say every guy from Texas is an inbred redneck.

Spare me the lecture. Ive been to several schools and the frats were chock full of spoiled, narcissists riding daddies money and thinking they are the coolest mother****er in an XS pink polo. They were all hardcore bros who wore fishing shirts when they dont fish, costa del mars at night, sperrys when they dont have a boat, and love to talk **** when drunk. I didnt say only frat kids do this but a sizable portion do and the stereotype is fairly accurate. Nevermind the hideous tank tops and 80s sunglasses. If I wanted to be in a place where everyone dresses the same and acts like douchebags, Id go frat. Spare me the brotherhood **** too. Frats are for the spoiled autonomous cowards of the world. Bro.

If I wanted to be in a place where everyone dresses the same and acts like douchebags, Id go frat. Spare me the brotherhood **** too. Frats are for the spoiled autonomous cowards of the world. Bro.

You do realize that nearly every president we've had was in a fraternity right? Spoiled cowards don't get elected to the office of the president. They don't go on to run fortune 500 companies either. Besides, if you want to talk about autonomous cowards, look no further than OWS. Apple, Abercrombie & Fitch, and modern marketing already have the monopoly on charging people to look and act the same. It would be naive to say that fraternities started this crap.

Let's set that aside for a moment and think about this. Fraternities and sororities raise millions of dollars for charity and put in hundreds of thousands of hours of voluntary community service every year. Tell me, what have you done in the past year for your community? Chances are, you haven't done **** compared to every "frat douchebag" you came in here whining about.

You do realize that nearly every president we've had was in a fraternity right? Spoiled cowards don't get elected to the office of the president. They don't go on to run fortune 500 companies either. Besides, if you want to talk about autonomous cowards, look no further than OWS. Apple, Abercrombie & Fitch, and modern marketing already have the monopoly on charging people to look and act the same. It would be naive to say that fraternities started this crap.

Let's set that aside for a moment and think about this. Fraternities and sororities raise millions of dollars for charity and put in hundreds of thousands of hours of voluntary community service every year. Tell me, what have you done in the past year for your community? Chances are, you haven't done **** compared to every "frat douchebag" you came in here whining about.

I do. Thats a whole different discussion, especially with comparisons drawn to other countries but Ill leave it alone. Moral of the story, its a hilariously dumb logic to say "Frats are good, the presidents were in them." Id rather be a lobbyist and have actual power anyways. I would actually say spoiled cowards do go on to be president more often than you think. Fraternities didnt start dressing alike but they are rampant violators of it. Again, irrelevant. Thats like saying a girl didnt invent ****tiness so its cool for her to get gangbanged by randoms.

So charities, presidency, and other people wear identical clothes too. Man, you shut me up. Frats are so bro cool. Or is it cool bro. Whatever.

So charities, presidency, and other people wear identical clothes too. Man, you shut me up. Frats are so bro cool. Or is it cool bro. Whatever.

Back to this.

Quote:

Originally Posted by eforce

you haven't done **** compared to every "frat douchebag" you came in here whining about.

As an extension of that statement, I'd say that an established fraternity house does more for the local community in one year than you will in your entire lifetime. As an added bonus, they do it without trying to put on the tough guy act or making ignorant comments about things they don't understand.

As an extension of that statement, I'd say that an established fraternity house does more for the local community in one year than you will in your entire lifetime. As an added bonus, they do it without trying to put on the tough guy act or making ignorant comments about things they don't understand.

Again, that is where you are wrong.

Yes, they are regular nuns. I do plenty but don't want to start whipping out the ruler. The community service aspect is seriously one of the biggest bull**** things you can say about frats. Join a student organization that will do pisstons more for the community if that is so damn interesting to you.

People can't judge what it is like or means to be in a fraternity until they have already been initiated into one. There are so many positives than negatives to being in one.

Here at Iowa State the Greek Community makes up for probably about 90% of the student organization positions on campus. Being in the Greek Community helps you with the options be more involved while you are at college.

Yes, they are regular nuns. I do plenty but don't want to start whipping out the ruler. The community service aspect is seriously one of the biggest bull**** things you can say about frats. Join a student organization that will do pisstons more for the community if that is so damn interesting to you.

... and where does your vast knowledge of greek life come from? A few trips to your friends' colleges where you got turned away at the door because you aren't a member?

I've only had one random episode at a frat house, and it wasn't a good one. I guess it would be cool to experience it for a little while, but holy **** I couldn't do it. A majority of the guys I met were, in fact, little **** talking wannabe hardasses, and the whole house was ****ing disgusting. I saw signs all over the house that read (simplified), "clean up by this date, girls are coming". The party they had the nights I was there, (staying with a co-worker for training over the weekend), were alright; just a normal house party on a bigger scale.

That's just my experience. I'm so glad going greek was never a priority of mine.

That bro video is dead on.

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